Author profile: David R. Marples

David R. Marples is a Research Analyst in the Contemporary Ukraine Program, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies and Distinguished Professor of Russian and East European History at the University of Alberta. His books include Understanding Ukraine and Belarus: A Memoir (2020), Ukraine in Conflict (2017), ‘Our Glorious Past’: Lukashenka’s Belarus and the Great Patriotic War (2014), Russia in the 20th Century: The Quest for Stability (2011), and Heroes and Villains: Creating National History in Contemporary Ukraine (2007).

Putin’s Russia: Violence, Power and Another 12 Years

David R. Marples • Mar 20 2024 • Articles

Putin can remain in office until 2036, when he will turn 84, but he will preside over a state with fewer people and dwindling resources.

Opinion – The Rationale of Russia’s ‘Special Military Operation’ in Ukraine

David R. Marples • Dec 22 2022 • Articles

Russia seeks to depopulate and destroy the entity that since 1991 has existed as the independent Ukrainian state. Only deeply flawed narratives can describe this situation otherwise.

Opinion – Russia’s Choices in Ukraine

David R. Marples • Jul 4 2022 • Articles

After the conquest of the Donbas it would make sense to seek an armistice, but Russia seems blinded by its own propaganda and buoyed by its gains – costly as they have been.

Russia’s War Goals in Ukraine

David R. Marples • Apr 21 2022 • Articles

There is no obvious end point or exit point for Putin as his goal is to win and occupy a vast territory and to be recognized as a victorious conqueror that has restored the glory of Russia.

Opinion – Merkel Talks with Lukashenka: A Positive or Negative Step?

David R. Marples • Nov 20 2021 • Articles

If change is to come in Belarus, it requires interventions from external sources, the most likely of which is Russia – however unlikely that may appear.

Opinion – Mikhail Gorbachev: Cold War Hero or the Man Who Lost the Empire?

David R. Marples • Mar 2 2021 • Articles

The Soviet Union ended quietly under Gorbachev, a man who sought peaceful change but lacked the means to preserve the Soviet state.

Opinion – Lukashenka’s Future in Belarus

David R. Marples • Aug 25 2020 • Articles

For Putin, Lukashenka has become an irritant – reliably pro-Russian but a difficult partner who has probably outlived his usefulness.

The Transformation of Political Life in Belarus

David R. Marples • Aug 2 2020 • Articles

Despite the arrest of hundreds of people, including two of the main opposition candidates, will Europe’s last dictator, Aliaksandr Lukashenka, fall in the upcoming election?

Meeting With the Opposition in Belarus

David R. Marples • Jul 23 2020 • Articles

This chapter describes the author’s travel, stories and experiences meeting with Belarusian political opposition before and after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Understanding Ukraine and Belarus: Advancing My Career

David R. Marples • Jul 21 2020 • Articles

This chapter describes the author’s experiences becoming a professor in Canada during the 1980s and 1990s, and during the Soviet “putsch” in August 1991.

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